The Lucknow medical scam might go down in history as one of darker periods in India judiciary.
The saga began in August, 2017 when it was reported that a few medical colleges were giving admission to students, even though they were barred by the supreme court from doing so, for a lack of regulatory compliance.
In order to contest the ban, a medical college knocked on the doors of a Supreme Court bench which also included the Chief Justice Dipak Misra. The court consented, but ruled that the college can’t seek permission from any court in the land, to admit students for the 2017-18 year.
In an almost jaw dropping next scene, the college then approached the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, and incredibly a judge in contravention of the Supreme Court order gave permission to the college to admit students in the said year.
Now the Chief Justice has decided to take action regarding the matter and has recommended the removal of the Allahabad High Court Judge for passing the aforementioned ruling. This decision has been taken based on an adverse report regarding the Justice named Narayan Shukla, filed by an in-house panel.
This panel which was constituted in November, consisted of Madras high court’s Chief Justice Indira Banerjee, Sikkim high court’s Chief Justice SK Agnihotri and PK Jaiswal a Madhya Pradesh High Court judge. The file which recommends the dismissal of the Judge is still with the Chief Justice, but is expected to be forwarded to PM Modi and President Kovind in the near future.
As per procedure, after this recommendation, an impeachment motion might be moved against the Judge in the Parliament, which will trigger an investigation. If the investigation confirms the judge’s guilt, the impeachment motion would be put to vote in the parliament.
Incidentally the judge could have got off the hook by avoiding this infamy, had he taken CJI’s initial recommendation to either resign or take voluntary retirement. Justice Shukla though refused to do both, which resulted in this impeachment recommendation.
Justice Shukla who had joined the Allahabad High Court in 2005, was scheduled to retire on July 17, 2020.
